Money For Nothing?
He's raised and spent more money on the primaries than any candidate ever—a record $74 million hauled in, more than $63 million expended. And Election Day's still seven months away.
But George W. Bush says he's not troubled that it cost so much money just to get to this point in the primaries.
"It's expensive," Bush tells CBS News Correspondent Bill Whitaker. "This is a huge country and it's important to get my message out. And the best way to do it is not to let the newspapers or, in all due respect, the TV networks decide who the candidate is. I've got to speak directly to people. That's what advertising does. It gives me a chance to explain what I'm for. "
| Big Night Having set a new financial benchmark for presidential candidates, George W. Bush for the first time will use his fund-raising prowess to help the Republican National Committee set a new mark by raising $15 million at its annual black-tie dinner. Bush, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, will be the featured guest at the April 26 RNC gala. GOP officials said they expected to raise $15 million, surpassing the previous record of $14 million collected last year when Bush's father, the former president, headlined the affair. Bush's one-day take will be nearly double the amount that President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore have raised for their party in a series of fund-raisers across the country so far this year. (AP) |
Those contributors would probably say they're simply giving money to the best candidate.
"Sure they would," says Andrew Wheat of Texans for Public Justice, "and from their perspective he definitely is the best guy. He brought home the bacon."
Critics charge big Bush contributors often win big favors. In his runs for the statehouse, he got more than $4 million from business people seeking to limit lawsuit liability, so-called "tort reform." Bush now boasts tort reform as one of his major accomplishments. He received even more money from Texas energy concerns.
"The governor also in the last session of the legislature declared an emergency issue, a tax break for the oil and gas industry in Texas," says Wheat.
"I can't say necessarily that it was those large contributions that caused those favors, but we do know that he creates disturbing appearances of impropriety and that the governor shouldn't be engaging in these kinds of practices. It sows too many doubts in the public mind that suggest the government is for sale, and this is a big concern among the American peopl."
Remember Sam Wylie, the Texas billionaire who weighed in on Super Tuesday with this environmental ad trashing John McCain?
Wylie, a major Bush contributor, had recently won a lucrative contract investing University of Texas funds. His "clean" renewable energy firm, GreenMountain.com, also could benefit from a Bush clamp down on old, "dirty" utilities.
Both the billionaire and the governor say there's no connection, but campaign watchdogs say it looks like big money politics as usual.
"What's wrong with that is the appearance that Mr. Wylie is supporting Gov. Bush because he wants to get something out of it for his company, a private interest," says Scott Harshbarger, president of Common Cause.
"And it appears that Gov. Bush may be willing to listen, not because he's an old friend, but because he has raised significant amounts of money for him....The message it sends is that you cannot participate in our democracy if you can't pay."
The Bush campaign says the governor doesn't follow the money; rather, his contributors are drawn to his political vision.
"Almost 200,000 individual Americans cared enough about electing Gov. Bush the next president to send in checks of $5 or $10 or $20 or $50 or $500, an average of $300, to help elect him," says Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes. "And that's a sign of great grass-roots support across the country."
Still, it's the most money-soaked campaign ever, and if, as Bush insists, the money doesn't influence him, he's clearly banking it'll have a big influence on the election.